Roland-Story sports round-up for the week of Aug. 22-27: Norse volleyball team starts 6-1

Joe Randleman, Ames Tribune

August 28, 2022 at 8:21 PM·5 min read

Roland-Story's Ali Charlson sets up a teammate for an attack during the Norse's victory over Central Springs at the Roland-Story quadrangular meet in Story City Aug. 22. The Norse were a perfect 3-0 on the day.

The Roland-Story volleyball team is red-hot to start the 2022 season and the Norsemen football team suffered a heartbreaking loss to South Hamilton in its opener Friday.

The Roland-Story volleyball team swept Central Springs (25-16, 25-22) and South Hamilton (25-18, 25-17) and took down Webster City in three sets (25-20, 21-25, 15-9) during the Roland-Story quadrangular meet to open the season Aug. 22 in Story City.

The Norse also went 3-1 at the West Marshall Invitational Saturday in State Center. They swept Columbus Catholic (22-20, 21-17) and BCLUW (21-15, 22-20), defeated Prairie City-Monroe in three sets (21-12, 19-21, 15-2) and fell to Van Meter in the semifinals (14-21, 20-22) in getting off to a 6-1 start on the season.

The Roland-Story football team fell to South Hamilton by a 34-28 score in overtime during its opener Friday at Story City.

The Norsemen outscored the Hawks 15-6 in the fourth quarter as the game went into overtime tied at 28-28. But they were unable to score in overtime and South Hamilton scored the winning touchdown on a 1-yard run by Tjerdan Johnson.

Here is what we learned from Roland-Story's opening week of fall sports competition:

Madelyn Risdal had 32 kills during the first week of competition for the Roland-Story volleyball team.

Volleyball team looks sharp

Despite the loss of two Division 1 athletes the Roland-Story volleyball team looked tough during the opening week of competition.

All-state setter Madison Geise is now a Drake Bulldog and all-conference middle hitter Reagan Barkema is a member of the Bradley women's basketball team. But despite those two huge losses the Norse look like they're going to continue their winning ways in 2022.

Grace Dowling had 35 digs, 30 kills and five aces during the week for Roland-Story. Ali Charlson filled in great at setter, handing out 102 assists and adding 35 digs and 20 aces.

Madelyn Risdal stepped up with 32 kills and 10 aces and Kamryn Lande finished with 29 digs, 27 kills, three aces and two blocks for the Norse. Alynn Solberg added 14 kills, three blocks and one ace, Laurel Osborn 43 digs and nine assists and Jaclyn Gessner 13 digs.

Roland-Story's Dillon Lettow hauls in a 36-yard touchdown pass from Hesston Johnson during the third quarter of the Norsemen's opener with South Hamilton Friday in Story City. Roland-Story fell in overtime, 34-28.

Comeback falls short for Norse football team

The Roland-Story football team gave a great effort in defeat Friday night.

The Norsemen were down 22-7, but came back to take a 28-22 lead before South Hamilton scored the tying touchdown with 5:14 left in regulation.

"Football is such a game of fortitude and if a team is lacking in that, it can be tough to make much headway despite scheme," Roland-Story head coach Matt Finn said. "I’m so impressed with the resilience of these players to give themselves a chance to win."

Unfortunately for the Norsemen, they were unable to answer in the fourth quarter or overtime, allowing South Hamilton to take the game on Johnson's touchdown run.

"You go through the game and you can drive yourself crazy thinking of all the what ifs," Finn said. "There are few of those for us, but ultimately I’m grateful that the fixes we need to make going into Week 2 are mental and mechanical, not effort and attitude. We’ve got a group of guys that are bought in and I’m really excited to see how we’re going to progress."

Roland-Story totaled 287 yards and gave up 337. Both teams finished with three turnovers.

South Hamilton's biggest advantage was time of possession. The Hawks held the ball for over 29 minutes and the Norsemen had it for just over 17.

"I can tell already that we’ve made some big strides," Finn said. "Special teams and defense did some really great stuff. We had flashes on offense too. We just have to finish the job and focus on each play and each drive and execute in critical moments, but that’s not an issue of belief or heart. We can fix execution."

Jonovan Wilkinson had a 57-yard touchdown run and finished with 111 yards rushing on 17 carries for Roland-Story. Hesston Johnson threw for 149 yards and two touchdowns in his first start at quarterback for the Norsemen.

Dillon Lettow hauled in a 36-yard touchdown reception, Kale Lande made a 14-yard touchdown reception, Carter Flattebo caught three passes for 58 yards and Luke Patton made three grabs for 39 as the top receivers for Roland-Story. Nick Butler added one rushing touchdown for the Norsemen on offense.

Luke Patton made three catches for 39 yards during Roland-Story's 34-28 overtime loss to South Hamilton Friday in Story City.

Defensively, Lande made 7.5 tackles, Gavin Carpenter five and Lettow and Patton 4.5. Lande also came up with an interception and Johnson and Jaxson Kadolph each recovered a fumble.

Roland-Story goes on the road this Friday to take on East Marshall (0-1). The game starts at 7 p.m. in Le Grande.

South Hamilton 34, Roland-Story 28 (OT)

South Hamilton 8 6 8 6 6 — 34

Roland-Story 7 0 6 15 0 — 28

Individual statistical leaders

Rushing: South Hamilton — Noah Gunderson 6-81. Roland-Story — Jonovan Wilkinson 17-111

Passing: South Hamilton — Tjerdan Johnson 4-6-1-78. Roland-Story — Hesston Johnson 5-9-3-149.

Receiving: South Hamilton — Owen Renaud 2-48. Roland-Story — Carter Flattebo 3-58.

Tackles: South Hamilton — Carter Balvanz 5.5 Roland-Story — Kale Lande 7.5.

Fumble recoveries: Roland-Story — H. Johnson 1, Jaxson Kadolph 1.

Interceptions: South Hamilton — Gunderson 1, Prestin Van De Pol 1, Landon Greufe 1. Roland-Story — Kale Lande 1.

This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Roland-Story sports round-up for the week of Aug. 22-27

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Volleyball team looks sharp

Comeback falls short for Norse football team

South Hamilton 34, Roland-Story 28 (OT)

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